In 2007 I returned to collecting trading cards after stopping at the age of 13 in 1994. When I restarted, my Dad gave me his collection, which included a few hundred dusty Topps baseball cards from the late 60's and early 70's from when HE was a kid. Now, I've decided to complete the 1969 set with a good start of about a third of the set. -- Pack Addict 3/13/2009

Pack Addict has turned this blog over to me, so I will be continuing the tradition. -- Jim from Downingtown 2012

Saturday, May 24, 2014

The 1969 Expos

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Here is a photo of the 1969 Montreal Expos. They posted a 52-110 record in their first season, 10 games better than the expansion Mets in 1962.

It appears that the Expos started the season with a rotation of Mudcat Grant, Bill Stoneman, Larry Jaster, and rookie Carl Morton, with rookie Mike Wegener getting the odd spot start. By mid-May, rookie Jerry Robertson had replaced Morton in the rotation, and a month later, Grant and Jaster were out, replaced by Howie Reed and rookie Steve Renko. In mid-July, Gary Waslewski replaced Reed.

Bill Stoneman, Jerry Robertson, and Mike Wegener were the "Big Three" starting pitchers for the expansion Expos. In only his 3rd big-league season, Stoneman was the ace of this staff, leading the team in wins (11), starts (36), innings pitched (235) and strikeouts (185).

Robertson and Wegener were alike in many ways. Both were making their major-league debut in 1969, both had only 5 wins, and were very close in starts, innings pitched, and strikeouts. All 3 of these pitchers were also used occasionally in relief.

Dan McGinn was the team’s closer, notching 6 saves. His 132 innings were 4th on the team (after the 3 starters above). McGinn appeared in 74 games, with only 1 start.

Howie Reed (6-7) and Gary Waslewski (3-7) both had unimpressive records, and pitched in 30 games, starting half of them. Waslewski came over from the Cardinals in mid-June in exchange for Mudcat Grant.

Other key members of the bullpen were Don Shaw (65 innings in 35 games, 1 start ) and veteran Elroy Face (59 innings, 44 games, no starts) who at age 41, was in the final year of his 16-year career (which ended with his August 15th release).

Steve Renko was acquired in mid-June from the Mets in exchange for Donn Clendenon. He was 6-7 in his debut season. Other starters getting some time in on the ground floor were Larry Jaster (1-6 in 26 games, 11 starts), Mudcat Grant (1-6 in 10 starts prior to his mid-June trade), and rookie Carl Morton (0-3 in 5 starts). Morton was sent down in early May, but stormed back in 1970 to win the NL Rookie of the Year award.

Others pitching only in relief were veteran Dick Radatz (0-4 in 34 innings), Carroll Sembera (0-2 in 33 innings), native French-Canadian Claude Raymond (who was acquired in mid-August from the Braves and became a fan favorite), and Steve Shea (15 innings over 10 games).

These eight had the most playing time at each position. Ron Brand made 79 starts behind the plate, sharing the catching duties with ex-Astros teammate John Bateman. Bob Bailey started 83 games at 1st base, sharing the job initially with Donn Clendenon, then with Ron Fairly. By mid-August Bob was relegated to the bench in favor of Fairly.

Gary Sutherland went from a seldom-used utilityman in 1968 for the Phillies, to starting 138 games for the Expos in '69. Bobby Wine also came over from the Phillies, and (after Maury Wills was traded away) started 110 of the final 112 games at shortstop.

Rookie Coco Laboy started 147 games at the hot corner. Mack Jones started 120 games in left field, while smacking 22 homers. The Expos employed a carousel of 10 players in center field. Adolfo Phillips led the way with 48 starts, almost all of them in the 6 weeks following his mid-June acquisition from the Cubs.

Rusty Staub started 154 games in right field (the most by any Expo at any one position). Staub was acquired from the Astros in January in exchange for Jesus Alou and Donn Clendenon. When Clendenon refused to report, the Expos sent pitcher Jack Billingham to Houston.

Here are the 2nd-line batters. Ron Fairly came over from the Dodgers in mid-season, and started most of the games at first base afterwards, along with 18 starts in center field. John Bateman started 64 games, splitting the catching duties with Brand. Ty Cline was the team's 4th outfielder (primarily sharing center field with Phillips). After 2 seasons as the Pirates' 3rd baseman, Maury Wills started 46 of the first 50 games at shortstop, then was traded back to the Dodgers in mid-June.

Donn Clendenon was drafted from the Pirates. He was ticketed to the Astros in the Staub deal, but refused to go. Excellent decision, Donn! After 21 starts at 1st base and another 9 in left field, he was traded to the Mets for pitcher Steve Renko and infielder Kevin Collins. Clendenon was the MVP of the '69 World Series, batting .357 with 3 home runs.

Jose Herrera began the season in the minors, but played 47 games in the final 3 months, mostly as a LF/CF/PH. Don Bosch was the team's center fielder early-on, and after playing in 49 games he was sent to the minors in early-July, never to return to the majors. Kevin Collins arrived in the Donn Clendenon trade in mid-June, and started the 15 games at 3rd base that Laboy didn't.

Manny Mota shared the center field job with Bosch and Cline until his mid-June trade to the Dodgers. John Boccabella
was the 3rd "B" in the Expos' catching corps. He played in 40 games, with most of his 19 starts coming in May and June.

Angel "Remy" Hermoso
played in triple-A most of the season. He started 16 consecutive games at 2nd base in mid-July (presumably Sutherland was on the DL), and returned in September. Jim Fairey was selected from the Dodgers, but spent the '69 season in triple-A. He played in 20 games during a September call-up.

Garry Jestadt pinch-hit 5 times in late September, and made his only start on 10/1. After 8 1/2 seasons with the Phillies, Gene Mauch got canned in mid-June 1968. No matter, he scored the skipper's job with the Expos, where he stayed for 7 seasons. Jack Billingham and Jesus Alou were selected in the expansion draft, but traded to the Astros for Rusty Staub prior to the season.

12/02/68 - Drafted Don Hahn from the Giants in the rule 5 draft.
12/02/68 - Drafted infielder Juan Rios from the Mets in the rule 5 draft.
12/02/68 - Drafted Carroll Sembera from the Astros in the rule 5 draft.
12/02/68 - Drafted Floyd Wicker from the Cardinals in the rule 5 draft.

01/22/69 - Traded Jesus Alou and Donn Clendenon to the Astros for Rusty Staub. When Clendenon refused to report, the Expos sent Jack Billingham and pitcher Skip Guinn to the Astros to complete the deal.

06/11/69 - Traded Manny Mota and Maury Wills to the Dodgers for Ron Fairly and infielder Paul Popovich.
06/11/69 - Traded Paul Popovich to the Cubs for pitcher Jack Lamabe and Adolfo Phillips. Lamabe finished out the season (and his career) in the minors.

Set description I posted in Zistle

With the addition of 4 expansion teams in 1969, the Topps set ballooned to 664 cards. Horizontal backs returned, after a 2-year absence, making room for more stats on the back (such as league, and games played). Topps continued with the color-coding of teams used in the 1966 and 1968 sets, while adding pink and brown to the mix for the expansion teams. Most of the players for the Expos, Royals, Padres, and Pilots are seen in airbrushed or capless photos, but we start to see the new uniforms in the later series.

Among the cards are 25 manager cards (2 for the Senators), 12 league leader cards, 8 World Series cards, 20 all-star cards, 4 multi-player cards, and a whopping 52 rookie stars cards. For the first time in a decade, there were no team cards. (Topps would reinstate all team cards in the 1970 set.)

1969 rookies with significant playing time who were omitted from the set include Wayne Garrett, Rod Gaspar, Gail Hopkins, Ken Tatum, and Al Raffo.

Topps began issuing their annual "traded" sets in 1981. Prior to that, there was a handful of "traded" cards in the 1972 and 1974 sets. Even earlier, 2 unofficial "traded" cards appeared in the 1969 set. The Clay Dalrymple card was issued with 2 different photos – one as a Phillie, and another capless photo as an Oriole. The Donn Clendenon card also had 2 variations. Although the same airbrushed photo was used on both cards, one shows him as a Montreal Expo, while the other shows him as a “Houston”.

Significant errors in the 1969 set: - The Aurelio Rodriguez card has a photo of the Angels’ batboy.

Other quirks in the 1969 set: - As in the 1968 set, all Astros players are shown with a team name of “Houston”. - Jim Hicks appears on the Cardinals Rookie Stars card, after having his own card in the 1967 set as a member of the White Sox. - Hawk Taylor, who had cards in the 1966 and 1968 sets, appears in the 1969 set as Bob Taylor. - Orlando Martinez, who had cards in the 1967 and 1968 sets, appears as Marty Martinez from 1969-72.